Tehran: Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, prominent Iranian nuclear scientist, has been assassinated in a shootout near country’s capital city of Tehran. He was suspected to be the leader of a covert atomic bomb programme, which was halted in 2003. However, Iran has long refused seeking to weaponise nuclear energy.
He succumbed to his injuries in the hospital after armed assassins open fired on his car, local media reported.
Iran’s defence ministry confirmed the news of his death and stated that the assassins first blew up another car before firing on a vehicle carrying him and his bodyguard in an ambush outside of Tehran.
Fakhrizadeh is believed to have headed the UN nuclear watchdog and US intelligence services, which was a coordinated nuclear weapon programme in Iran.
Israel has long been suspected of carrying out a series of targeted killing of Iranian nuclear scientists.